Montpellier: the big build-up

A fantastical Philippe Starck structure is the latest in a swirl of snazzy architectural projects changing the face of Montpellier, a city that manages to punch above its weight as a 21st-century design hub without losing its medieval mojo. By Harriet O'Brien.

The comte threw his arms wide open, gesturing across the estate - his château's neatly clipped parterres around us, its exuberant gardens behind, and the burgeoning rows of vines beyond. 'This is wonderfully productive land,' he enthused. And he urged me to taste the resulting wine, especially the intense reds. It was just the sort of epicurean exchange you'd want to have with the proprietor of a vineyard in the sunny South of France.

Yet there was a quirky twist to the bucolic scene: Château de Flaugergues, complete with gracious, 18th-century mansion and 30 hectares of wineland, is just outside the centre of one of Europe's most dynamic cities.

In old-new Montpellier the sense of energy is palpable. Half the population (of about 260,000) is under 35; there's an amazing array of cutting-edge architecture, with more in the making; and it is one of France's fastest-growing urban centres. In fact, it is only over the past decade-and-a-bit that the city's IT district has expanded to engulf Château de Flaugergues and its vineyards.

A chic lunch restaurant opened here a couple of years ago, run by the Comte's son and daughter-in-law, Pierre and Marie de Colbert. By 12.30pm on weekdays, it is crowded with sharp-suited office workers. They left abruptly at 2pm the day I was there, so for half an hour I had the place to myself, until visitors began arriving for tastings and tours in the afternoon.

Château de Flaugergues is a striking example of Montpellier as a tale of two cities: the historic offset by the hectically expanding new. To this intriguing mix add a, literally, hot location. Glorying in palm trees and sunshine (locals claim there are 300 sunny days a year here), Montpellier is a hop and a skip from the sea. Yet it is a curiously underplayed Mediterranean destination, failing to register much on the tourist radar because it lies on the less fashionable side of the southern French coast. Which is all to the good: even in high summer the crowds are relatively thin, and while the city can't vie with the likes of Nice or St Tropez for glamour, nor does it charge their prices.

The initial attraction of Montpellier is its medieval heart, a captivating tangle of lanes and car-defying passageways, and with its mellow, honey-coloured stone it struck me as oddly reminiscent of Oxford - with a better climate. Montpellier's old town also has the edge over Oxford in terms of verve and consistent prettiness. Its streets are lined with the superbly stylish windows of small boutiques; its leafy little squares buzz with café life. In some respects this is an upstart place that has never really shaken off its newcomer status: Nîmes, Béziers and Narbonne, the other sizeable towns near the coast in Languedoc-Roussillon, date back to Roman times and earlier; Montpellier was developed in the late 10th century.

Set on the River Lez, which allowed easy access to the sea, it rapidly grew into a major trading centre, and continued to prosper. Fast-forward to the 16th century and Montpellier became a stronghold of the Huguenots, and subsequently suffered in the onslaught of France's religious wars. Yet the destruction resulted in a swathe of rebuilding, and the city acquired some seriously splendid architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. The medieval street plan remained largely unaltered, but squares opened up in place of some of the churches; intrinsically French hôtels particuliers, resplendent with wrought iron and elaborate stairways, were developed from old courtyard houses; and the city even built its own little Arc de Triomphe to glorify (and mollify) Louis XIV.

The net result is one of those absorbing places where you spend hours simply wandering. You twist down tiny alleys. You blithely enter shops and restaurants to look at the medieval vaulting of the ceilings (at super-sleek De la Luce on rue Saint-Côme, say, or Burger & Blanquette on rue Rosset). You make it a sort of treasure hunt to see into the courtyards of elegant houses: parts of Hôtel de Varennes, with its medieval passageways, and the beautiful Hôtel des Trésoriers de la Bourse, with box-hedged garden and flamboyant stonework, are open to the public on weekdays.

I also spent a good quarter of an hour strolling rue du Cannau, staring up at stone faces on grand doorways and stealing a look inside the spectacular courtyard of Hôtel de Beaulac when the gate was opened by an employee of the architect's office there. In this old town of so many half-hidden sites, shameless snooping becomes compulsive. On rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, I gazed into L'Atelier du Livre, where hand-printed books were taking shape. At Place Sainte-Anne I peered through the window of a violin-maker's workshop (there are 12 luthiers working in the city, I later learnt).

Pictured: a view into a violin-maker's workshop in Hôtel Magnol; a violin-maker's workshop on rue du Bayle

An unusually wet day provided an opportunity to explore the museums. Three of them are exceptional. Revamped in 2007, the Musée Fabre developed from a donation by artist François-Xavier Fabre in the wine-boom years of the early 19th century.

I browsed rooms of Flemish and French art - Rubens, Teniers, David, Delacroix - then moved on to the museum's most prized works: paintings by Montpellier-born Frédéric Bazille, the Impressionist artist who died tragically young; and the abstract art of Pierre Soulages, who in 2005 donated more than 20 of his canvases, mostly bold studies in black that become strangely mesmerising as you gaze at them.

Just down the road, at Hôtel Sabatier d'Espeyran, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs opened in 2010, the first floor dedicated to an amazing assortment of bling furniture from the 1800s, the storey above showcasing a contrastingly refined display of neoclassical decor.

Most remarkable of all, though, is the Musée Atger, with its wonderful collection of drawings by Fragonard, Watteau, Tiepolo and others. It's a semi-secret place, open only a few afternoons a week and tucked away in the university's glorious school of medicine. Any trip to Montpellier should include a visit here. It's the oldest medical school in operation in France and is set in a former monastery. In the 16th century the building became the bishop's palace, and its church was transformed into the city's cathedral. It was after the Revolution that the medical faculty, dating from the 12th century, took over the property. With some flourish, too. A large botanical garden for medicinal plants was established, and today the Jardin des Plantes is a deeply tranquil place, still run by the university, open to the public in the afternoons and containing some 2,500 species.

I had based myself at Montpellier's gastronomic garden. Le Jardin des Sens is quite some restaurant with rooms. Its contemporary-chic accommodation (mahogany floors, subtle lighting and funky wardrobes in the 15 bedrooms, and a private rooftop pool with the biggest suite) is generous, yet very much second fiddle to the food. Jacques and Laurent Pourcel, twin sons of a local wine producer, were just 24 when they opened their restaurant in 1988 and began to transform the food landscape of the city. They now have two other restaurants in Montpellier (Insensé and Compagnie des Comptoirs) as well as numerous outlets in France, Japan, China, Thailand and Singapore. Michelin-starred Le Jardin des Sens remains their flagship, and they're here most nights overseeing the creation of their subtly spiced dishes. Surrounded by greenery, the tiered, glass-sided dining room felt like a theatre as I marvelled at the procession of exquisite dishes. The amuse-bouches alone looked like tiny works of art (seafood millefeuille; beetroot purée in shot glasses; coronets of courgette mousse) and tasted terrific once I'd plucked up the courage to eat them.

Pictured: pre-dessert in the restaurant and a corridor at Le Jardin des Sens

I moved on to spend two nights at a sumptuous old-town hotel. Baudon de Mauny is an 18th-century mansion that opened as a maison d'hôtes in 2008. It's the ancestral home of Alain de Bordas, whose wife Nathalie designed the interiors, combining ultra-modern styling with impeccable restoration. Some of the bedrooms are adorned with great swirls of plasterwork; others are minimalist. Gilt mirrors hang above contemporary leather chairs. The breakfast room is an eye-poppingly chic space created out of what was once a dark courtyard. The hotel tends to get booked up by visiting architects, Alain told me. Indeed, Baudon de Mauny has hosted Jean Nouvel, the man behind several projects in the city; Massimiliano Fuksas, whose school of hotel management in the Millénaire district opened in 2012; and Zaha Hadid, who designed the city's Pierresvives sports-and-library building.

Montpellier started to get a reputation for bold new architecture in the late 1970s, when the Antigone neighbourhood was built on the site of former barracks near the old town. Devised to look like a model Renaissance city, it's a monumental mix of offices and apartments by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill. Moving beyond the old town to explore the brave new city, I found the scale of Antigone disturbing, feeling like an ant as I walked past its huge pilasters and through its gigantic arches.

I continued further east, where ongoing development in the Port Marianne area seems a lot more human. That's partly because of the variety of architectural styles, partly because the apartment blocks have been designed to be comfortably lived in rather than make a statement, and also because of the counterbalancing central features of the neighbourhood. A lake is fringed with bars and cafés, and the city's Hôtel de Ville shimmers beside a smaller pool of water. Designed by Jean Nouvel and François Fontès and opened in 2011, this radically eco-friendly building looks from some angles like a big blue cube, while from others the colour subtly shifts to green and the shape changes into a square Arc de Triomphe, intended to echo the one in the old town.

A few streets from here, on avenue Raymond Dugrand, is another Jean Nouvel building. The RBC Design Center is a cool, steel-and-glass structure with a four-floor atrium and various showrooms displaying state-of-the-art furnishings. In another old-town echo, this design-for-living haven is like a contemporary take on the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. I had a browse in the bookshop, sank into several chairs, marvelled at the vast range of lighting products on show, then stood on the terrace looking out over a park where Montpellier's next big project is taking shape: a spa and wellness complex designed by Philippe Starck.

The best way to see the city changing shape is to take a tram ride. Trams were reintroduced here in 2000, and two new lines were opened in 2012. Smart, designer trams they are, too, with exterior styling by a graduate of the city's art school, Christian Lacroix. On my final morning in Montpellier, I caught the Lacroix blue tram adorned with jewelled sea creatures and headed towards the coast, 11km away.

It was a trip that started just outside the old town, took me past Antigone, offered great views of the Hôtel de Ville and wove through Port Marianne alongside cranes at work. After clanking across a semi-agricultural landscape of vineyards interspersed with hypermarkets, we nearly reached the sea. The line does not yet extend as far as the shore, so you do the last leg by bus. As I got off at a flat beach, clouds began to roll in. A disappointment? Well, perhaps - but I had the happy prospect of another designer tram-ride back through Montpellier's grand architectural spread.

Le Jardin des Sens An amazing assault on the senses. First there's the visual drama of the dining room, with glass walls opening onto a Japanese garden. Then there's the food: beautifully balanced menus range from 'Sens & Découverte', eight courses that might include rolled lobster with peas and radish, to the three-course Languedoc menu, with dishes such as roast pigeon breast, sweet beets and parsnip chips. +33 4 99 58 38 38; www.jardindessens.com. Menus from about £40

Pastis Restaurant Here's a real find, much loved locally. Seating no more than 20 (so getting a table can be a bit of a struggle), this elegant little bistro has a mystery menu every evening, based on what's available in the market. +33 4 67 66 37 26; www.pastis-restaurant.com. About £60 for two

Tamarillos Philippe Chapon creates astonishingly pretty dishes using fruit and edible flowers, from deep-orange nasturtiums to bright-pink sweet peas. Smoked salmon comes with a 'festival of petals', and scallops are served with floral borage. +33 4 67 60 06 00; www.tamarillos.biz. About £90 for two

Mia The restaurant at the RBC Design Center in Port Marianne is full of suitably sleek furnishings and clever lighting. The chef is Pascal Sanchez, who previously ran the award-winning Twist by Pierre Gagnaire at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. His modern, organic menu might include frogs' legs with ginger-chicken broth, or roasted prawns with cardamom-scented pineapple. +33 4 67 73 14 26; www.miarestaurant.fr. About £80 for two

Folia Functional and stylish, Folia is in a converted wine barn at the 18th-century Château de Flaugergues. It's hugely popular and a bit tight on space, so noise tends to crescendo around 1pm. The food is a treat, with a carefully considered menu based on market-fresh produce (artichoke mousseline; sautéed lamb with leeks and spinach); and of course, it's all particularly good when paired with the estate's wines. +33 4 99 52 66 35; www.flaugergues.com. About £40 for two

Pictured: Pastis Restaurant and a starter of rolled kohlrabi and mackerel

Le Jardin des Sens Bruno Borrione, a frequent collaborator with Philippe Starck, created the interiors here: theatrically designed public areas downstairs, with elaborate chandeliers and bright swathes of curtains in the lounge; abstract paintings and cool little sculptures on the landings (the Pourcel brothers are mad-keen collectors of contemporary art); and 15 bedrooms whose pared-down aesthetic is given a lift by retro furniture and splashes of red, purple or lime green. +33 4 99 58 38 38; www.jardindessens.com. Doubles from about £125

Baudon de Mauny Once you step through the unassuming gateway of this 18th-century building, Montpellier's street noises fade. You're in the quiet courtyard of a townhouse where time and dimension are cleverly conflated: it's historic yet modern, palatial yet intimate. Each of the eight bedrooms has its own distinctive style, from an enormous boudoir with flamboyantly decorated ceiling to a monastically minimalist retreat. +33 4 67 02 21 77; www.baudondemauny.com. Doubles from about £135

Domaine de Verchant Provence-style farmhouse meets boutique hotel - with vineyard attached. This charming, 26-room country retreat is about 15 minutes' drive north-east of Montpellier. Tall windows with weathered shutters frame strikingly stripy vine-views over the estate. There are huge bathrooms and balconies, a great spa and dreamy pool, and a restaurant run by the Pourcel twins. +33 4 67 07 27 00; www.domainedeverchant.com. Doubles from about £215

Trinque Fougasse O'Sud This wine bar is one of the most happening venues in Port Marianne, offering tapas-style food and live music most nights. (It's one of two Trinque Fougasse bars, the other being in the north, on route de Mende.) +33 4 99 23 27 05; www.trinquefougasse.com

Café Latitude This laid-back café on Place de la Canourgue, one of the city's most attractive squares, is hung with bold African art and has a lovely terrace fringed with rose bushes.